Public crypto miners sold more BTC in Q1 2026 than all of 2025: Report

Hashprice for BTC miners has been declining since July 2025 and now sits at about $33 PH/s per day. Source: Hashrate Index

The heavy BTC sales come as the mining industry struggles with increased competition represented by a rising hashrate, the total computing power expended by miners to secure the network, reduced block rewards and macroeconomic headwinds.

Related: Bitcoin miners face a tougher road to the 2028 halving

BTC held by miners has been declining long-term while treasury companies pour in

The Bitcoin Miner Reserve, a metric tracking all the BTC held by miners, has been gradually decreasing since 2023, according to CryptoQuant.

Bitcoin miners collectively held over 1.86 million BTC at the end of 2023, but only hold about 1.8 million BTC at the time of publication.

The total number of BTC held by Bitcoin miners has been gradually declining since 2023. Source: CryptoQuant

Miners periodically sell portions of their BTC to cover operating expenses, but a combination of lower crypto prices and rising energy costs has forced some miners to offload coins they would have held in their corporate treasuries.

“We expect further capitulation among higher-cost operators in H1 2026 unless BTC’s price recovers materially,” asset manager CoinShares said in its Q1 2026 Bitcoin Mining Report.

Standing in sharp contrast to the miners’ selling are Bitcoin treasury companies, like Strategy, which has been a regular buyer of the biggest crypto.

Michael Saylor, the co-founder of the biggest Bitcoin treasury company, earlier this week signaled that Strategy is acquiring more BTC, as the price retreated from the local high of over $73,000 reached this week.

“Think bigger,” Saylor said on Sunday, while sharing the chart of Strategy’s BTC purchase history that has become synonymous with imminent BTC acquisitions.

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